Thread: DMX cables vs. Microphone cables

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Help!

I ordered several DMX cables from DJ Equipment | DJ Lights | Fog Fluid |Stage Lighting | Chauvet lighting | DJ Gear. They had to drop ship the 50 ft DMX cable from American DJ. It just arrived today and it is marked "microphone cable." I went to cheaplights website and it seems that is what they use for their DMX cables - microphone cables.

They are not answering their phones today so I can't ask them my question so I thought I'd ask you gurus - Is there a difference? Googling this I've seen several comments that say you should not substitute microphone cables for DMX cables. But, there was one commenter who said he didn't have a problem.

Before I go through the hassle of returning $30 worth of cables (50 ft and two 3-foot cables) would it be fine if I go ahead and use the microphone cables?

I would not use them. I don't know the technical difference, but I have made the mistake of using mic cables before and it just caused problems. You'd think a reputable company like AmericanDJ would be smart enough to know that. I'd call them!
However... I believe the reason for mic cables not working has to do with the speed or type of wire on the inside. I suppose it's possible they they are actually using DMX cables for mic cables, and not the other way around. Give this thread a day or so and i'm sure Phoenix will pop in on it... he's the resident DMX expert.

Cool, thanks. I went to the AmericanDJ site and I'm starting to believe that they may have mislabeled their stuff and in turn cheaplights did as well. Looking forward to what Phoenix may say.

Luckily I have a Guitar Center store in the neighborhood so worse case I can just pick up the DMX cables there. I'm not going to risk messing up my project. Worked too hard at it!

you don't realy want to use mic cables as they are lower resistance than dmx cable which means they can corrupt the dmx code going to the device causing it to respond in a way you didn't expect. over short distances you should be fine just keep it away from any power cables. and if things seem kind of out of wack remember that maybe what the problem is. it might work for you or it might not also a good way to tell if it is dmx or not when buying something is dmx cable costs about $1-2 a foot for smaller cables and adj dmx cables go for $30 for just the 50 foot cable at their lowest. which tells me you probably did get mic cable.

I may have uncovered a problem from cheaplights. I ordered DMX cables from their site:
137: Cables (DMX & Analog)

This was the description:
137-DMXEX3-08
$6.35
3 foot DMX extension cable. Male 3 pin XLR to female 3 pin XLR.

Here's what I got: Notice that they are labeled DMX cables but underneath the large DMXEX lettering there is smaller lettering that says XL-3 and the maker is accu-cable. But accu-cable labels their microphone cables as xl-3. Also, in the cheaplights description, they mention XLR (that I now know as microphone cables). I missed that when I ordered, but then again, I didn't know that XLR cables are microphone cables. Hmmmmm



Now Cheaplights had to have the 50 ft DMX cable dropped shipped directly to me from AmericanDJ. This is what I got:



I'll be calling them when they open to see if this was an accident or this is what they are selling for DMX cables.

As common knowledge as it is for us not to use mic cables, wouldn't a big company like AmericanDJ or Cheaplights know? It almost makes me wonder if the cables are rated for DMX -and- mic cables? Let us know what AmericanDJ says.

I have used Mic cables for DMX devices and it worked fine... I was not running anything complicated though. I am to interested in hearing what they say as I have no idea what the difference is either if any...

Well, I just got off the phone with cheaplights. They insisted that it will work fine, it's what they've been using for 28 years and it is what they will continue to use in the future.

I tried to explain to them that several people have told me that it's not okay to use microphone cables and he told me not to listen to them. He said that people who had called him with concerns called him back later and said they had no problems.

You guys are using it in real world situations and say you have problems. I guess I have to go to Guitar Center and get real DMX cables because I could tell I hit a brick wall with cheaplights. It bugs me that they are saying it's DMX cables but use microphone cables. Guess that's why their price is so good.

By the way, he did say there was a difference between the two (DMX uses different shielding) but that it's fine to use the microphone because they are very high quality.

Still, I would feel more secure using DMX cables. This is my first DMX prop and I don't need to be chasing additional problems due to cabling.

Okay, just to get definitive answers, I called AmericanDJ (who manufactures the accu-cables; microphone and DMX). He said that you can use microphone cables but when you run longer cable lines that's when you can start running into problems. The DMX cable has a higher impedance (whatever the heck that means) so data is more secure and you won't have drop off. I also asked if if I ran power lines next to the microphone cables would I have a problem? He said no.

So, I asked him bottom-line, should you use DMX cables in DMX situations? He said "definitely."